Very big news for Vertex – 75% of hepatitis C patients never treated before achieved a viral cure after receiving a 12-week course of the company’s experimental drug telaprevir plus the current standard of care, according to results from a phase III study…more

Coaching skills. Your field managers and other leaders are constantly in need of improvement here. And we have great partners to recommend for coaching programs. Contact us (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) for recommendations.

Novartis oral MS drug – FDA extends review another 3 months – Novartis will have to wait a bit longer in its bid to get the first oral treatment for multiple sclerosis on the market after regulators in the USA put back a review of Gilenia. The US Food and Drug Administration has extended by three months, to September, its review period for Gilenia (fingolimod), previously known as FTY720…more

Train-the-Trainer. Your new trainers have whole new sets of skills (curriculum design, ISD, project management, presentation, etc.) – we have great partners to recommend. Contact us (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) for recommendations.

If Shire were in Olympics, they’d now be on the speed skating short track – Shire has been boosted by the news that regulators in the USA will give a quicker review to the firm’s Fabry disease drug Replagal. The company has received fast-track designation from the US Food and Drug Admininstration for Replagal (agalsidase alfa), its enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease. The drug has also been available under an early access programme in the USA since December following the temporary shutdown of a Genzyme manufacturing plant which caused the shortage of the latter’s Fabrazyme (agalsidase beta)…more

Pfizer gets the FDA go-ahead for updated vaccine – Pfizer said Wednesday the Food and Drug Administration has approved an updated version of its best-selling infection vaccine for infants and children. Prevnar 13 is intended to reduce the risk of infection by 13 strains of pneumococcal disease in children 5 years old and younger. The disease causes ear infections, meningitis and pneumonia…more However, no standing ovation for experimental osteoporosis drug.

Speaker training – Looking for programs to help your managers, executives, and sales representatives present like pros? We’ve got the providers you need in the Impactiviti network. Contact us (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) for vendor recommendations.

PLUS

The Pharma and Healthcare Wiki – one year old and full of value! My friend and co-conspirator Jon Richman launched this very valuable (and quite comprehensive) collection of social media resources and examples a year ago, taking off on my initial SocialRx page and making a great resource for the industry. Need to know what’s going on in eMarketing/eHealth/Social Media? Go there!

JUST FOR FUN

The world’s 18 strangest airports. I’ll say this for my home airport, Newark – you do get to see some awfully strange sights while shuffling for hours in the security lines…

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Subscribe to the Impactiviti blogvia e-mail (which will bring you Impactiviti Daily – a brief of the day’s top pharma news)

Pfizer trimming pipeline projects after Wyeth acquisition – Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, said Wednesday it is quitting plans to sell popular pain drug Lyrica as an add-on treatment for anxiety as it shaves about 100 projects from its combined portfolio after swallowing rival Wyeth…more

AstraZeneca: 8,000 more cuts coming. Ouch – The reduction will take place by 2014 and comes on top of approximately 12,600 jobs the drugmaker has already cut. The jobs will be eliminated from sales and marketing, R&D, and supply chain operations, along with basic infrastructure…more

On-line/e-mail learning reinforcement – The event is over. Now, how do you reinforce the learning and track uptake? Contact us (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) for recommendations.

Ouch – more NJ pharma job cuts – Call it the proverbial one-two punch. On Jan. 31, Pfizer expects to chop 400 jobs from Monmouth Junction, where Wyeth maintained research offices. And on Feb. 9, Merck will eliminate 500 jobs from Kenilworth, where Schering-Plough had its headquarters, although it’s not clear which types of jobs will be affected...more

Cephalon‘s jet lag pill not ready for takeoff – For those of you who were unaware, Cephalon is anxiously awaiting FDA approval to sell Nuvigil, a slightly modified form of its Provigil narcolepsy pill, to combat jet-lag disorder. The drugmaker had hoped for a regulatory okay last month, but the agency delayed a decision in order to review data…more. After recent airline news, maybe they should rename it NuVigilant and package it for TSA inspectors…

Simulations. It takes solid expertise and creativity to make great eLearning simulations. And our network has the providers you need. Contact us (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) for recommendations.

Novartis taking full control of Alcon – Novartis AG gained control of Alcon Inc. through the purchase of a 52% stake in the U.S. eyecare company from Nestlé SA in a $28.1 billion deal that is bringing the Swiss drug maker a big step closer to its goal of becoming a global health-care conglomerate. The deal is bringing Novartis’s ownership of Alcon up to 77%, for which it paid Nestlé a total of about $39 billion…more

FDA leaving lumps of coal in the stockings of antibiotics makers (and also being a Scrooge about Pfizer‘s Prevnar). Yes, I know Christmas is over. It just seemed like an apt analogy…!

Rep Certification. Are you trying to figure out how to create a “certification” program for your sales reps, in light of all the state/federal guidelines? We’re keeping our finger on the pulse of this also, and can point you in some helpful directions. Contact us (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) for recommendations.

From the NYTimes: Menopause, as brought to you by Big Pharma – MILLIONS of American women in the 1990s were told they could help their bodies ward off major illness by taking menopausal hormone drugs. Some medical associations said so. Many gynecologists and physicians said so. Respected medical journals said so, too…more

RECOMMENDED

Instructional Design. The Impactiviti network has great suppliers for all your Instructional Design needs – ISD professionals to create training, or to help with strategy and design. Contact us (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) for recommendations.

Welcome!

Steve Woodruff
President, Impactiviti

Testimonials

“Steve Woodruff is one of the most “networked” people I’ve found in pharmaceutical training. His communications are always smart and targeted, and I value his professional partnership.” -Jennifer Zinn, Director, Worldwide Marketing, Clinical Laboratory, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics